Posted by Steve Balke on June 19, 2009 at 10:20 AM
Looks like Great Egrets (ref. post of Luke Ormand) are not the only birds that like eels! This Herring Gull on the shores of the Credit River near Toronto decided to dine on a Lamprey Eel. You can see the sucking disk of the Lamprey in this shot. Lamprey attach themselves to fish. Their rasping tongue and teeth allow them to withdraw blood and body fluids. I have several more photos showing the gull eventually swallowing this tasty item. This is the first time I've posted on a forum. Looking at what others have done I gather I can post a few more photos on this topic by replying to this one. I'll give it a try!
Posted by Steve Balke on June 19, 2009 at 10:22 AM
This gull was persistent.
Posted by Steve Balke on June 19, 2009 at 10:23 AM
Going, going....
Posted by Steve Balke on June 19, 2009 at 10:25 AM
Gone.
Posted by Luke Ormand on June 19, 2009 at 11:45 AM
That's pretty incredible. It's nice to see a photoseries showing the whole consumption of the animal - I gotta believe the gull wasn't flying anytime soon after that but it's always nice to see them actually catching live food rather than picking at discarded fast food wrappers. .
This is gonna seem like extraneous info, but as a marine biologist I feel compelled to point out that lampreys aren't really eels, they are eel-like in form, but in another taxonomic order altogether (Lampreys: Order Petromyzontiformes; Eels: Order Anguilliformes). This will make a good topic of conversation the next time you're out to dinner with friends.
Posted by Steve Balke on June 20, 2009 at 10:33 PM
Daniel, I hope that my sushi chef knows the distinction between lampreys and eels. After seeing a lamprey for the first time I'm sure I prefer the latter.....although that gull sure looked satisfied at the end.
Luke, I agree. Here is one that found bread out on the ice....it was more fun seeing one with a lamprey. I wish there was more bird variety around here. I think there is. I just need to get better at looking.
Thank you Aleksei. Some species live in fresh water for their entire lives. Others are anadromous (they go from the sea to fresh water to spawn) rather than catadromous (which go from fresh water to the sea). [Not bad for a chemical engineer, eh? I love Google!]
See: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vertebrates/basalfish/petro.html
Discussion
8 repliesLuke, I agree. Here is one that found bread out on the ice....it was more fun seeing one with a lamprey. I wish there was more bird variety around here. I think there is. I just need to get better at looking.
Nice series Steve.
See: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vertebrates/basalfish/petro.html